LOA (Week 4 to 12 and break week)

hey there,

It's been AGES since my last post I know... unfortunately the constant crunch mode I was in while working in Tata made me unable to post anything...
so heres a quick update on my status...
I am now unemployed (again) so I can get back to finishing Animation Mentor...
unfortunatly my SUPER SECRET project is on hold since i wasnt able to continue during my time at work

While I was in employment I learnt quite a bit and had quite some fun (mostly thanks to an awesome Lead and great team mates)

here are some of the things I learnt over time which i feel might be useful to other (if any one is reading i.e :D )

Caution The following post can be lengthy and boring... readers discretion is advised... unsound is not responsible if the reader falls asleep as one is reading the following... the reader is amply warned (i think)

CHOOSE The 1st shot Wisely...
Alot of the time in a production environment due to multiple reasons there might not be a training period of any sort... So If one joins a new Studio and is given a bunch of shots to animate, My honest suggestion is to tackle the least complicated shot... From personal experience I can state that in my previous job (at cochin) i took up a complicated shot and I was stuck with it for quite a while... it got my confidence down really bad (i was almost down to tears at one point and thought of quitting... ) but in tata I started out with a simpler shot (a single character with simple acting) and I got onto the track with very little hiccup... I find it always takes few shots to get to understand what Team lead/Supervisor wants...


Build a Good Rappo with Lead...
I know this sounds stupid, But its SUPER important... Having one's Team lead's support... even better having one's team lead's Trust would go a Lonnnnng way...  especially when one is having trouble in certain shots it was good to have lead's support and patience... still remember the horror of the YO YO!!! and raggles wriggle (ok this only myself and maybe my TL if he remembers might get it)


Develop 2 sets of Animation workflow...
There are 2 distinct workflow methods that we as animators should possess... one is Animation in detail and other one is animating quickly...and as an animator we have to balance the two to become succesful in a production environment (atleast in India where the bulk of animation is mostly outsourced work)... it is quite impossible to have only one set of workflow... One cannot only animate fast (cause it then becomes a routine and the animator will start stagnating or worst start hating what he/she/it is doing) similarly one cannot animate in detail all the time (with deadlines its impossible to give the love and care the shot needs/demands)
so its always bests to find a workflow which allows one to work fast but still be able to add some acting/detail into the animation...


Know the whole pipeline
I learnt this the hard way... but its always good to make some friends with people in other parts of the workflow (especially the lighting team) that way u are aware of what they do... I had to revist most of my shots because when lighting they make everything SUPER Smooth and haveing both character and the BG smooth creates a GAP!!! man the irritation of repoening the shot!!!! hoping that the computer wouldnt crash the moment i hit '3' on my keyboard (worst till hoping no fatal error occors when i hit '6')... the angry vibes that literally flooded out of the lighting room, gives me the shivers even as i sit and think about it now.... BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! (unfortunatly the men's room was in the lighting section and everytime i had to use it I had to go near the lighting section and boy was it scary!!!)



Find Some inspiration in your work
It's really hard to work on something that u find uninteresting... It's easier to think hey this is not mine, I am just paid to do this... but that in my opinion is counter productive both to the show and to the animator... Agreed its hard to find inspiration to all the shots but i found that the shot that i found interesting came out much better then the shots where I just animated for the sake of animation... I belive something similar is said by Mike gasaway in one of his post 
"

We did a little show about a genius boy with a metallic dog.  Did pretty well in the ratings and did even better in the hearts of millions.  I still TO THIS DAY get complimented on a show that was cancelled…er…NOT picked up for a fourth season…what, six years ago?

Anyway, we did this show brilliantly (YES brilliantly) ON time AND ON budget AND had high quality.  Take THAT, triangle.
"

sure the post talks about a totally different subject but it kinda took me on a different track of thought that lead me to the conclusion that if one is truly interested, the external restrictions like budget or time constraint wount affect the creativity, and one can still be creative or even more creative in these constraints then one can be without constraints... confusing I admit it but to me its true none the less


ok i think thats it for now....


oh almost forgot... since i hadnt used my wacom for almost 2 months i thought i'vd warm up before the start of the term...
so here is a quick 2D test
WarmUp from vedanth rajan on Vimeo.


well thats it for now
Chao

LOA Super secret Project (LOA week 2 and 3)

hey there,

yes I know I missed last weeks post,
it was intentionally unintentional... or is it unintentionally intentional!!!  I am not sure :D ... the reason for not making a post was there was little to post about...
the progress on the super secret project is reaaallly really slow... and theres no one but my lazy self to blame... lets see if I can list the reasons (not that it would matter much :P )

1. as I said above... I AM LAZY!!! forcing myself to get onto maya for couple of hours of the day is hard... too many distractions... need to wake up early sit in front of the comp and resist the temptation to load up the games (some of which I uninstalled but still I need couple to wind down after the midnight riding back home)

2. even when I do sit in front of maya... I am too much into experimentation mode... the stage 1 which was supposed to be maybe 200-250 frames long turned out 400+ frames and that too after cutting myself down... I might go in at later stage and build upon some of the idea I felt needed more time/frames but for now its 480 frames long...

3. did i mention I was lazy??? did I mention the long drive back home at midnight??? oh I did but i think it needs to be emphasized ...



ok the reasons arent much I guess but its eneough that I am falling back on my own shedule!!! I needed to be close to finishing stage 2 but as I am posting this I am setting up the shot for stage 2 ... will be searching for some video reference in the night (got to youtube... even though i resemble the character i still cant spin on my back and jump up without making as ass of myself...) hopefully next week i'll be able to put up some posts that will be part of my stage 2-3 reference (stage 1 didnt need reference one of the reasons it went overboard... part of stage 2 dont need too so maybe stage 2 can get out of control too but lets see :D )

well thats it for now again no videos this week :D
chao

LOA super secret project stage 1 planning (LOA week 1)

hey there,

yes I know I didnt post last week... and yes I AM lazy... it was mostly cause I didnt have much to post... I am having Fun in the new job that I am in... got a really cool lead who knows what the series wants and knows how to achive that quality (which isnt high though :( )
the flip side is that I am now in night shift (meaning 3pm to 11 pm) which usually means if i am late or have work... then I am stuck in office till 4am (not a fan of riding my bike in the cold from midnight onward :P )

getting very little time on my personal project but its SLOWWWLY happening... just finished the basic planning (sorry since its top secret my planning and other material gonna stay hidden... :P might put up some of the video referene that doent give out the whole idea in later post when i get around to making the video reference i.e :P )

for now... the project is split into 5 stages... and i basically spent the whole week trying to find some unique transitions between the stages my initial idea had cliche transitions so had to throw them out of the window :P funny thing though most of my breakthrough always happend in the bathroom when taking a shower... totally weird... most of the creative ideas i got was in the shower !!!! makes me think maybe i should waterproof my comp and just sit in the shower and work the whole day... maybe that way i might get creative enough to reach the level of some of my peers :D (lot of creative ppl in Animation mentor that I am SUPERRR Jealous of!!!! and want to reach their level of creativity)

overall this week no video... no video next week either and provided i get the stage 1 done by end of next week i can pose my silly video reference the week after that :P

well thats it for now


CHAO!!!

Progress reel (class 4 week 12) (and some other minor things :D )

hey there,

I am now on Leave of absence (LOA)
took it beacuse of the new job i got in Tata elxsi VCL.... does this mean I'll dissappear from the face of the virtual blogging world???? I hope not :)

I have some super secret project in mind (which came to me maybe end of class 2??? ) that I wanna work on... since its super secret the delima is do i put it up or not??? i really want to save it till the last moment... but then this is supposed to be a blog on my progress... (do u see the problem... :P ) so i think i'll come up with a compromise (funny right compromising with myself and all... ) I'll put up some parts of my planning and some of the video reference that i think wont make much sense on its own... (its a LOOOOOOOONNNNGGGG shot )

gonna start working on planning from next week (i know i know why not this week right???? simple i dont have my video camera and am also in crunch mode in work :D )

so my post for next week will be a little bit on the studio i work for and some of the awesome people i met in there :D (some of the people have already helped me quite alot and taught me some really neat stuff... more on that next week.... )

so chances are next week no video to upload... no sketchbook... just pure text :P


here is my progress reel for class 4
gonna miss nicole's AWESOME qna's though :'(
but am looking forward for this break i didnt know i needed :D





well thats it for now
chao

(p.s the airtel seems to have fixed the stupid vimeo issue... so no more dropbox YAY!!! )

1P dialogue Close to final, LOA and Tata elxis (Class 04 week 11)

hey there,

lot of things to note down this week...
so lets start with Non AM related stuff...

last week I had given a test for animator in tata elxis... on friday to my utter surprise... I wasnt too sure abt the test since i really wasnt 100% satisfied wit the test for many reasons.... I got a call saying they are hiring me as an animator... ME!!!!

the funniest part was I was in the QnA and i tried really hard to talk to the HR... chat in the qna chat and try to listen to my mentor... and looking back (10 mins later :P ) it was one of the FUNNIEST moment of my life... (thats the reason its here... since this is essentially my diary :D )...

so to celebrate (and just for fun) me and my friends decided to catch a movie... one thing though thx to all the online booking thing... the fun of running to a theater and standing in line, or even deciding to watch the movie based on tickets is totally gone... the thrill of trying to get a ticket to a movie which was cheap (its Sunday :D ) and the movie we wanted to watch and have it in a theater nearby comes really really close though...

when i get to the movie i realise OMG its Emraan Hashmi!!!! to be frank i m not a fan of him... but the darnest thing happened... the movie "shangai" had Emraan Hashmi and had kissing scene (which the afore mentioned actor is super famous for... being called "serial kisser" and all) but it was Emraan kissing!!!

overall i really enjoyed the movie... the direction in it was SUPERB!!!! i really love the way the director told the story... the pacing felt a bit slow intially and till intermission the story was all over the place (i.e was'nt having any direction... i wasnt sure who to root for till almost after intermission.... ) the attention to details was inspiring... the acting was top notch (except ofc poor Emraan.... who tried to hard and in the end got overshadowed by other awesome actors...) and the end was mind blowing... the director sure got guts (balls feels vulgur but appropriate) cause he pretty much made fun of ALL political party and the things that happen behind the government (true or false i dont care nor do i know but it was entertaining for sure) and the twist in his epiloge HIT ME like a ton of bricks...

oh w8t I am not a movie critic... and this is not a movie critic blog... damn i m getting distracted....

back on track... right... in short i had A BLAST of a sunday...

so since I am gonna be working, I decided to take a leave of absence (LOA) from AM... I hope to get adjusted to the new workloads and spend the next 3 months to replan how to continue... I had gotten pretty lazy wit lot of sleep so its good I am having this shakeup...

ok that finally brings to the reason i even make this blog... my progress... here is my close to final...



(p.s i call it close to final cause i made some small changes in the end of the shot which kinda affected the hands and elbow so the hand now has a pop... that i am aware of but was too late to change :D )

I hope to continue to post weekly during my LOA!!! maybe get in that 1 body mechanics shot that i really wanted to do...  but wasnt confident i could pull it off... during these 3 months...

well thats it for now...

CHAO!!!